[ExI] Self improvement versus creating a non-eudaemonic dystopia

[Stefan Pernar]

Dear all,

I am a newcomer to the extropy chat list but have been lurking at other
singularity/transhumanist mailing lists for about a year and was
occasionally posting as well. The following text is from my blog -
www.jame5.com - where I recently published my book on the Singularity (free
download) and share my thoughts on the singularity, evolution, human nature
friendly AI and everything in between ;-)

Would appreciate your comments:

Reading Nick Bostrom <http://www.nickbostrom.com/>'s paper on the future of
human evolution <http://http//www.nickbostrom.com/fut/evolution.pdf> was
fascinating. In essence he makes the point that continuing to increase
fitness will result in a dystopian world when measured with present human
values and I agree. From the perspective of a present day human the
evolution towards non-eudaemonic agents as Bostrom puts it seems like a
scenario one has evolved to dislike. Since we have evolved to regard as good
what has increased fitness in our ancestors we would have to fail to see
anything unrecognizable human as a desirable future state. But is the deep
desire to improve oneself not just as well part of human nature? Where but
to something posthuman shall such self improvement lead if we for ever
regard what is desirable from our current perspective?

Self improvement can be seen as a series of gradual changes. Consider the
following scenario. A person approaches the matter of self improvement in a
way to ensure that every improved following version of his self will be
desirable from the unimproved version's point of view. How desirable will
the 100th improvement look from the point of view of the original? How about
the 1 millionth? No matter at what improvement step the original will draw
the line - at some point the improved version will turn into something that
is unrecognizable, incomprehensible yes even scary to the original.

How do you picture the encounter between an early rodent - one of our direct
ancestors a few 10 million years ago - and a modern day human. The rodent
would probably flee in panic and some humans likely as well. But would the
rodent lament over the sad abandonment of gnawing on stones? After all it is
enjoyable and keeps ones teeth in shape. Or would it - having the full
understanding of a human being - appreciate that other concepts, worries and
habits are what a human holds dear in modern times? Which perspective take
priority? "Of cause the human one!" is what one would expect from the
anthropic chauvinists' camp . But would the one millionth improved version
as discussed earlier not argue the same for its manifestation?

Reconciling the desire to satisfy the ever changing current representation
of an individual with the desire for self improvement and the implications
for the future of human evolution becomes the challenge that needs to be
addressed. Bostrom does so by suggesting what he calls a Singleton - an
entity policing continued human evolution to maintain the status quo.

In the context of my friendly AI theory <http://www.jame5.com/?p=8> I
suggest a similar approach to Bostrom's Singleton however honoring Ben
Goertzel <http://www.goertzel.org/>'s 'voluntary, joyous, growth' concept
<http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Pattern-Patternist-Philosophy-Mind/dp/1581129890>and
thus allowing for the possibility of continuous self improvement.

Specifically I argue for a friendly AI to

A) change the environment(s) humans are in to increase an individual's
fitness as opposed to changing the genetic/memetic makeup of and individual
to adopt it better to it's environment.

B) reconcile our desire for self improvement with the problematic results
discussed above by making growth optional as well as rewarding.
Kind regards,

Stefan
-- 
Stefan Pernar
3-E-101 Silver Maple Garden
#6 Cai Hong Road, Da Shan Zi
Chao Yang District
100015 Beijing
P.R. CHINA
Mobil: +86 1391 009 1931
Skype: Stefan.Pernar
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20071107/267f466f/attachment.html>